Adapter to provide multiple size capability for paper towel cabinet



D. c. MONYETTE ET AL March 18, 1969 3,433,544

DAPTER TO PROVIDE MULTIPLE SIZE CAPABILITY FOR PAPER TOWEL CABINETMonyeie W0 ZsZe Filed June 12, l

' 50 Jana Id C 3 5/ Jean Z I wfm United States Patent 4 Claims ABSTRACTOF THE DISCLOSURE An adapter which provides for the dispensing of any ofa number of various sizes of folded paper towels from a cabinet made todispense a single size of folded paper towels. The adapter is comprisedof a single rigid sheet folded in a V-shape with a lip extendingoutwardly from the vertex of the V. The lip fits into the dispensingslot at the bottom of the cabinet. One side of the V defines an inclinedsurface on the interior of the cabinet to guide paper towels into thedispensing slot. The other side of the V is fastened at the front bottominside of the cabinet. The lip prevents smaller towels from fallingthrough the dispenser slot, yet does not inhibit dispensing of thelarger towels. The inclined surface keeps the smaller towels aligned andtoward the back of the cabinet.

Background of the invention This invention relates to an improved papertowel cabinet for dispensing folded paper towels one at a time and, moreparticularly, relates to an adapter fastened to the inside of such apaper towel cabinet to provide the cabinet with dispensing capabilityfor any of a number of paper towel sizes.

Generally, folded paper towels are dispensed one at a time from anappropriately mounted cabinet. The cabinet is usually attached to awall. The front of the cabinet generally folds out and down in order toallow filling of the cabinet with a stack of paper towels. The towelsare dispensedv from a slot extending across the entire width at thebottom of the cabinet.

The dimensions of a cabinet as well as the dimensions and position ofthe dispensing slot are dependent upon the towel size 'which is to bedispensed by the cabinet. The towel size is, in turn, dependent upon theparticular needs at each particular cabinet dispenser site. Differenttowel requirements are met by different towel sizes having variousabsorbancy and wear characteristics.

Requirements at a dispensing site may change. To provide numerous towelcabinets for various towel sizes as the requirements change would beexpensive. To unnecessarily use an expensive towel because such a towelis the only one which fits in the cabinet at a particular site would bewasteful.

Summary of the invention In a principal aspect, the present inventioncomprises a paper towel cabinet which is modified to provide multiplesize towel capability for a single cabinet, preferably by the attachmentto an existing cabinet of an adapter. The adapter generally comprises aV-shaped structurally rigid device which has a lip extending outwardlyfrom the vertex of the V. The adapter is inserted on the inside of thetowel cabinet. The lip is made to extend outwardly and downwardly intothe dispensing slot at the bottom of the cabinet. One side of theV-shaped device is attached to the cabinet and holds the adapter inplace. The opposite side of the V-shaped device provides an inclinedplane surface which directs the paper towels toward the dispensing slot.

3,433,544 Patented Mar. 18, 1969 It is thus an object of the presentinvention to provide an improved adapter for paper towel cabinets whichprovides multiple size paper towel dispensing capability to a singlesize of cabinet.

-It is a further object of the present invention to provide an improvedpaper towel cabinet adapter which can be economically attached to mostexisting paper towel cabinets.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a simplyconstructed and economical paper towel cabinet adapter which providesmultiple size towel capability for a paper towel cabinet.

These and other objects, advantages and fetaures of the presentinvention will be made fully illustrated by the detailed description!which follows.

Brief description of the drawing In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is an exploded perspective view of a typical towel cabinet andthe improved adapter;

FIGURE 2 is a side view of a paper towel cabinet utilizing the adapter;and

FIGURE 3 is a front sectional view of the adapter taken substantiallyalong the line 3-3 of FIG. 2.

Description of the preferred embodiment FIGURE 1 illustrates in aperspective view the positioning of the adapter improvement 10 in atypical paper towel cabinet. The cabinet, comprised of a front section12 and a rear section 14, is generally mounted on a vertical member suchas a wall by screws attached through the openings 16 in the back panel18 of the rear section 14. The front section 12 has a right hand sideflap 22 and a left hand side flap 24 which are pivotally attached to thelower right side wall 26 and the lower leftside wall 28, respectively bythe hinge pivot points or rivets- 30 and 32. Thus the front section 12may be swung upwardly about the hinge pivot points 30 and 32 and matewith the back section 14 to form an enclosed paper towel cabinet.

The latch 34 catches the downwardly extending flap 36 to hold the frontsection 12 in a closed position. The latch 34 is operated by key (notshown). The front section 12 has a vertical slot 38 defined in the frontpanel 40 of the front section 12. When the front section 12 is in aclosed position, a visual observation of the slot 38 indicates the levelor amount of paper towels in the cabinet. Paper towels are normallydispensed through the slot 52 defined by the flap 54 at the bottom ofthe back section 14 and the paper guide 42 attached to the front section12.

The improvement is the adapter, generally shown at 10, formed from asingle rigid piece of structural material such as sheet metal. Theadapter 10 is V-shaped having a first surface 44 and two leaves or flaps46 and 48 which define a second plane. A planar extension of the firstsurface 44 defines the lip 50 at the vertex of the V-shaped adapter 10.The adapter 10 is appropriately fastened into the position indicated bythe phantom lines in FIGURE 1. The lip '50 extends over the paper guide42 into the area of the dispenser slot 52.

FIGURE 2 illustrates the adapter 10 positioned in a closed paper towelcabinet filled with various sized paper towels 58, 60 and 62. The firstsurface 44 of the adapter for-ms an inclined plane which extendssubstantially from a position at the lower middle portion of the frontwall 40 to a position above and just short of the slots 52 defined atthe bottom of the cabinet. Since the first surface 44 extends onlypartially across the width of the cabinet, the larger towels 58 are notrestricted from passing through the slot 52. The slot 52 is defined bythe open area between the rearward extension of the paper guide 42 andthe frontward extension or fiap 54 of the rear section 20 of the papertowel cabinet.

The lip 50 extends downwardly and outwardly into the slot 52. The leaves46 and 48 are glued and fastened by an epoxy cement to the top part ofthe paper guide 42. Alternative fastening means such as rivets wouldalso be suitable. A brace 56 facilitates the positioning and fasteningof the adapter 10. The paper towels 58, 60 and 62 which are positionedWithin the cabinet are pushed toward the rear panel 18 of the cabinet bythe first inclined surface 44. However, the lip 50 retards or preventsthe smaller size towels from falling through the slot 51. The lip 50 issymmetrically positioned on the vertical center axis of the cabinet inthe center of the slot 52. The restricted width or lateral extension ofthe lip 50 insures that large paper towels 58 may be dispensed, and alsoinsures that smaller paper towels 60 and 62 will be retained within thecabinet. The lip 50 is slightly curved in the downward direction tofacilitate dispensing yet retain the smaller towels 60 and 62.

As an example of the operation of the improvement in a paper toweldispensing cabinet, an adapter was provided for a dispensing cabinetwhich was designed to dispense 3% x 10% c-fold cabinet folded papertowels 58 in FIGURES 2 and 3. A paper towel of this type is known by thetradename Handifold, manufactured by Ft. Howard Paper Company of GreenBay, Wis. Simultaneously inserted into the cabinet were 3" x 9 /2"intermediate sized folded paper towels 60 and 2 /2 x 6%" smaller sizedfolded paper towels 62. The intermediate sized towels 60 were folded inthe multifold configuration. Such a folded towel is known by thetradename Selfold, manufactured by Ft. Howard Paper C0., Green Bay, Wis.The smaller sized folded towels 62 were folded in the narrowfoldconfiguration. Typical of such folded towels is the towel known by thetradename Plyfold, manufactured by Ft. Howard Paper Co., Green Bay, Wis.The towels 58, 60 and 62 were then removed from the dispenser by pullingon the towel side flap 64 which protruded into the slot 52. Regardlessof the size of the towels 58, 60 or 62, the towels 58, 60 and 62 weredispensed one at a time.

In practice only one size towel will normally be used in a dispenser.For purposes of experiment all the sizes were used and arranged invarious orders within the cabinet. As illustrated in FIGURE 3, thesmaller towels 60 and 62 may be positioned to abut one side of thecabinet. However, it was found that the smaller towels 60 and 62 couldbe positioned in any manner within the cabinet without adversedispensing results.

Thus it can be seen that as the needs in a certain area change from asize and fold such as Handifold, a paper towel with a different sizefold and absorbancy such as Selfold or Plyfold may be used in a papertowel cabinet which is provided with the improvement of the adapter 10of this invention.

While in the foregoing there has been described a preferred embodimentof the present invention it is to be understood that all equivalents areto be included within the scope of the invention as claimed.

What is claimed is:

1. In a cabinet for dispensing individual folded paper towels, saidcabinet having an inside, a front wall, sidewalls, a vertical centralaxis, and a lower horizontal panel with a dispensing slot therein, theimprovement to provide multiple towel size capability for said cabinetcompnsmg:

a single planar sheet disposed on the inside of said cabinet andextending from said front wall to a position short of said slot;

a substantially coplanar extension of said planar sheet forming a lipextending outwardly into said dispenser slot; and

means for fastening said improvement to said cabinet such that said lipextends outwardly and downwardly into said slot.

2. The improvement of claim 1 wherein the improvement includes first andsecond flaps integrally attached to said planar sheet, said flaps beingcoplanar and defining a second plane, said planar sheet and said secondplane defining a V-shaped adapter having a vertex, said vertex beingdisposed at a position short of said slot, and said lip extending fromsaid vertex and curving outwardly and downwardly into said dispenserslot.

3. The improvement of claim 1 wherein said planar sheet has lateralsides substantially parallel to said sidewalls, said planar sheet havinga width substantially less than the width of said cabinet, and said lipextends laterally in both directions from said vertical axis for adistance substantially short of the lateral sides.

4. In a cabinet for dispensing folded paper towels, said cabinet havinga front wall defining a substantially vertical plane, and a dispenserslot disposed along the bottom wall of said cabinet, the improvementcomprising:

fixed planar means extending from adjacent the vertical plane of saidfront wall at an incline to a position adjacent said slot to guide thefolded towels toward said slot and fixed retarding means extending intosaid slot to prevent the folded towels from falling through said saidslot, said fixed planar means and said fixed retarding means providingmultiple size paper towel capability by permitting variously sizedtowels to be simultaneously housed and serially dispensed from saidcabinet.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,488,040 11/ 1949 Straubel 221493,115,998 12/1963 Joyce et a1. 312-39 XR 3,341,067 9/1967 Bastian 22144BOBBY R. GAY, Primary Examiner.

J. L. KOHNEN, Assistant Examiner.

U.S. Cl. X.R.

